of heresy. She was destined to become the theatre of schisms.

Permit us, in connection with this French Rome, a short historical
digression. Strictly speaking, it is not essential to the subject
of which we treat, and we were perhaps wiser to launch ourselves
immediately into the heart of the drama; but we trust that we
will be forgiven. We write more particularly for those who, in a
novel, like occasionally to meet with something more than fiction.

In 1285 Philippe le Bel ascended the throne.

It is a great historical date, this date of 1285. The papacy which,
in the person of Gregory VII., successfully opposed the Emperor
of Germany; the papacy which, vanquished in matters temporal by
Henry IV., yet vanquished him morally. This papacy was slapped
by a simple Sabine gentleman, and the steel gauntlet of Colonna
reddened the cheek of Boniface VIII. But the King of France,
whose hand had really dealt this blow, what happened to him under
the successor of Boniface VIII.?

This successor was Benedict XI., a man of low origin, but who
might perhaps have developed into a man of genius, had they allowed
him the time. Too weak for an open struggle with Philippe le Bel,
he found a means which would have been the envy of the founder of
a celebrated order two hundred years later. He pardoned Colonna
openly.

To pardon Colonna was to declare Colonna culpable, since culprits
alone have need of pardon. If Colonna were guilty, the King of
France was at least his accomplice.